Best Energy Stocks To Own Right Now

The world’s largest automaker is putting big money into electric vehicles in China.

Volkswagen (VLKAF) and its local partners plan to invest more than 10 billion ($11.8 billion) to build electric and hybrid cars in the country — the world’s biggest auto market — over the next seven to eight years.

More electric vehicles are sold in China than anywhere else on the planet — and the national government is pushing companies to design and build them on Chinese territory.

Under the plan announced Thursday, VW and its partners are aiming to develop and produce as many as 40 new electric and hybrid vehicle models in China between now and 2025. It expects the first of the new models to hit the Chinese market next year.

VW’s top China exec, Jochem Heizmann, said the German company is “determined to be at the forefront” of China’s electric vehicle revolution.

China accounts for about 50% of the global market for clean energy vehicles, according to investment firm East Capital. Chinese officials said two months ago that they were working on a plan to eventually phase out the production and sale of vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels.

Best Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: AquaVenture Holdings Limited (WAAS)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Jim Robertson]

There were six IPOs scheduled for this week (five yesterday and one today) with small cap Aquaventure Holdings LLC (NYSE: WAAS) appearing set to end the week with shares above their IPO debut price. AquaVenture Holdings is a global leader in water purification solutions and a pioneer in providing Water-as-a-Service (WAAS), generating recurring revenue from the deployment of advanced water filtration, sanitization, purification and desalination technologies. Through its subsidiaries,the Companyserves over 40,000 customers and delivers seven billion gallons of clean water each year.

Yesterday, Terex (TEX) announced that it would sell its ports business to Konecranes for $1.3 billion. Today, Baird’s Mircea Dobre and Joseph Grabowski upgraded Terex to Outperform from Neutral, arguing that the sale makes a takeover by China’s Zoomlion that much easier. They explain:

Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg News

The sale of MHPS to Konecranes is a positive catalyst on multiple fronts: shareholders got an attractive multiple for what historically has been a challenged business with further upside possible given 25% equity ownership in Konecranes, execution risk is diminished as new CEO can focus on operational improvement without the effort required to integrate the Terex and Konecranes businesses, and finally, the MHPS sale makes it easier for Zoomlion to acquire remaining Terex.

While our upgrade is not reliant on Zoomlion acquiring Terex, the MHPS transaction could make a firm Zoomlion offer more likely.

At the margin, a Zoomlion deal appears easier to get done: 1) the remaining businesses fit better with Zoomlions existing product portfolio of construction equipment, cranes, and various commercial and municipal equipment, 2) given the attractive terms of the MHPS sale, the funding hurdle required to acquire Terex is lowered, 3) many of the CFIUS issues center around national security concerns regarding the nations ports, no longer a concern given MHPS sale.

Dobre and Grabowski also raised their price target on Terex to $30, up from $24. With Terex off 0.1% at $24.88 today, that leaves 21% upside in the stock to Baird’s target.

In February, I wrote about Chinese demand for U.S. companies, including Terex.

[By Ben Levisohn]

Third and a trigger for the change: China becomes an active bidder in the space. Chinas Zoomlion bid for Terex (TEX) ($3.3B) along with Haier/General Electric (GE) ($5.4B) and several ChemChina proposed deals in industrials changes the upside/downside skew, particularly on lower quality/more challenged names. The Terex bid does not appear to be one-off. Chinese outbound M&A announcements rose to record highs in 15; to $112B (up 57% from 2014) in total acquisitions. Industrials formed a large and rising portion, at ~12B completed. Thats roughly equal to the 3 prior years industrials deals combined, and is the highest on record. Energy and materials accounted for ~15% of 15 spend vs. ~83% in 2011. Even lower quality or more currently challenged machinery franchises have distribution which could be highly attractive to new entrants…

[By Ben Levisohn]

RBC’sSeth Weber and team offer their thoughts on Zoomlion’s revised bid for Terex (TEX):

Bloomberg News

After the close today, Terex announced that it is moving forward in its negotiations with Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. following receipt of a non-binding proposal from the Chinese company to acquire all outstanding shares for $31/share in cash.

[By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

Ever walk past a construction site? It’s hard not to be enthralled by all the heavy construction machinery moving things around. With the world’s developing economies still building at a relatively fast pace and developing economies, like the United States, in desperate need of upgrading their aging infrastructure, the companies behind that construction machinery could be just as exciting as a construction site in the years ahead. Which is why Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI), and Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX) are three of the top construction machinery stocks to look at right now.

[By Ben Levisohn]

Shares of Terex (TEX) had surged 32% as of the close of trading last Thursday–but dropped 14% the next day after China’s Zoomlion announced that it wouldn’t be pursuing a purchase of the U.S. crane maker after all. In the aftermath of the scuttled deal, Morgan Stanley’s Mili Pothiwala and Nigel Coe cut Terex to Equal Weight from Overweight:

Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg News

On Friday morning, Zoomlion announced it had terminated its bid for its proposed acquisition of Terex for $31/ share. This was a clear negative for Terex shares, which traded down ~15% on Friday to $20, given the absence of an event-driven catalyst (following the sale of MHPS to Konecranes, which we assume will be completed). However, we think that the stock’s current discount to the Machinery group on a P/E basis (20%+) is justified, given a still challenged underlying operating environment for the RemainCo, as well as historically uneven company execution – both of which return to the forefront of the investment debate following the removal of the M&A bull case.

Toll Brothers posted quarterly earnings of $0.87 per share on revenue of $1.502 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion.

[By Jim Powell]

Steve Halpern: You mentioned home builders and one that you’ve been bullish on is Toll Brothers (TOL). Do you still like that stock?

Jim Powell: I certainly do. It’s in there for the long haul. They’ve made some really good strategic decisions. One of the trends that I’ve been following is the millennial generation and what their habits are and what their preferences are.

[By George Putnam, Editor, New Generation Research, Inc.]

Steve Halpern: Now, another company that you talk about is Toll Brothers (TOL), which focuses on the higher-end of the home market, as well as condominiums. Do you think there’s still opportunity with TOL?

Money is the top cause of stress in the U.S., the American Psychological Association reports, and the leading driver of stress in the workplace, according to studies by the National Business Group on Health, Aon Hewitt, PwC and

Fannie Mae (OTCQB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTCQB:FMCC) are two companies in conservatorship that have recently been allowed to keep $3B each as part of a capital buffer. It's amazing that $3B is good enough during normal business to protect these two companies from quarterly draws considering they

Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) is a good company with solid fundamentals, a positive vibe, a community-type culture, and more growth potential. It is known for having the best quality yoga pants, its signature product, but I dont believe L